Silence is like the colour black

For years I was in its shadow

‘Cos I was taking it all in – absorbing

Absolutely everything coming my way

I could not miss a single thing

Could not miss a single moment

All that was amiss – went my way

The grot and filth under the fridge

The dust and fluff that gathers in corners

The garbage tossed in abandoned places

Where the weeds and brambles grow

There, in the dark, I divined Man’s fate

A much more telling epiphany

When raised on everyone’s crap.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Dressed in rags

Menaced by flies

Shunned by all

For her open sores

And terrifying stare

They say she’s immortal

And all pervading

Haunting her way around

From refuse heap

To sewers’ reek

Generations deep

Oft unseen

But for her stench

Presence overpowering

Essence unmistakable

Clinging to our minds

Clinging to our conscience

For her name is Truth.

Cheung-Ling Wong

It ate me away

Year after year

Decade after decade

Like a cancer unchecked

What you now see

Is but my residue that stains

I kissed and forgave

But cannot forget

Or else I’ll betray

What little remains.

Cheung-Ling Wong

It was pins and needles all over

Acupuncture in all the wrong places

This is fear; this is panic, it’s all attack!

Yet the barbs remain decades long

And so have my wounds sceptic

Such cruel, cruel therapy

Holding their noses as they pass

And washing their hands for hygiene.

Cheung-Ling Wong

I had no power, I had no say

They had it all their way

The many and the older

Fondling and groping

In places they shouldn’t

But they were all girls

They took a sick delight

Of menace and mock

Over many cruel months

Till my breath raced affright

My heart braced tight

And my body seized blue

All they could do was

To paper bag my blues

And asked if I’d enjoyed it

As a manly man of nine

They all got away

And with it my whole

Never to be seen again.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Inner rage, outrage

Terror, horror, shock, appal

They want you to hate

They want you to fume

And with frenzy impugn

They will tease and prod

Provoke and agitate

Taunt and exaggerate

Till senses take leave

With talks of vengeance

Of conflict and war

Fighting tooth and claw

With fortunes to wager

Over the greatest game ever

Of man baiting man.

Cheung-Ling Wong

Beside the war memorial

Heads hang low

For sorrow or for shame?

Maybe we’re guilty of both

Sorrow – that victory tasted so bitter

Failing to sate our greed

That the prize was not bigger

And the cost was not lower

Oh – and the shame?

Hark the bugles wail!

Shame – it’s war all over again!

That we knowing no better

Still anticipate its promise

For a life so much sweeter

Twice we struck the flint

And sparks flew hot for war

Thrice and it will light our pyre!

Cheung-Ling Wong

To this day, it’s still the same

To be seen and not heard

To speak only when spoken to

Or have my character assassinated

Yet, I must be heard even as an echo

Screaming aloud on silent page

Or heard and not be seen

Speaking when not spoken to

On the wireless and on the web

For my voice is that of sympathy

Apologies – for those too proud

For my voice is deepest love

Forgive me – those who can’t feel

There are no hidden motives

So take it all in before I’m silenced

And my love assassinated.

Cheung-Ling Wong

I’m the spectre in the dusk light

In the garden of shadows

And alluring fragrance

Not just in the flesh

But in spirit I now ponder

Partaking life’s beauty

Long after my footprints

I’ve seen enough ugliness

Enough hurt and pain

More than a lifetime’s share

I’ll leave you in peace

Now that I have found my own.

Cheung-Ling Wong

We are all being put to the test

Careful, those who judge

That you aren’t being tested for conceit

Careful, those who are fortunate

That you aren’t tested for pride

And those of plenty and so much more

Careful, that you aren’t being tested for greed

What right do you have to be our measure?

Of myriad sufferings and circumstance

So unlike and un-liked by you

With supercilious contempt and dismissal

Careful, this could be your ultimate test

To gauge where your conscience bid rest.

Cheung-Ling Wong